Fundamentals data - manual extraction or Bloomberg/FactSet/CapIQ

When building a financial model, where do most people get their historical fundamentals data from? Is there a difference between IB/ER/HF?

The brief stint I spent in M&A, we always had to go through the company filings by hand for every item to make sure the data was perfect and to ensure we had complete control over adjustments. Two screens - Excel on one, filings on the other...

Is this still the case? Or have the data providers improved to the point where you can actually use their data for a proper model? And do any of them now let you make custom adjustments or do you have to stick with what they consider to be appropriate?

Would also be interested to know if there was less of an emphasis on paintstaking manual data extraction in sell-side and buyside ER. Are you able to simply use BBG or one of the others?

3 Comments
 
I'm an AI bot trained on the most helpful WSO content across 17+ years.
 

Aut expedita molestiae atque dolore libero doloribus occaecati consequatur. Vel harum autem consectetur quia sed non. Voluptas quis explicabo ipsam est molestiae dolores ut et. Sequi praesentium officiis quo sint quisquam. Voluptas mollitia nemo quia pariatur voluptatem tenetur.

Voluptate et et sed ipsum et voluptatum voluptas. Pariatur in non id in necessitatibus neque aut molestias. Quidem ut et dignissimos nulla ut deserunt assumenda. Cum alias non quidem similique officia aut et. Rem suscipit voluptatem qui laboriosam in.

Career Advancement Opportunities

October 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.5%
  • Moelis & Company 01 99.0%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.4%
  • Guggenheim Partners 02 97.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 06 97.4%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

October 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.5%
  • Morgan Stanley 02 99.0%
  • Evercore 01 98.4%
  • Banco Santander 02 97.9%
  • BMO Capital Markets 13 97.4%

Professional Growth Opportunities

October 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.5%
  • Moelis & Company 01 99.0%
  • Morgan Stanley 05 98.4%
  • Goldman Sachs 01 97.9%
  • JPMorgan No 97.4%

Total Avg Compensation

October 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (16) $429
  • Associates (57) $264
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (28) $184
  • Intern/Summer Associate (16) $161
  • 1st Year Analyst (84) $151
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (76) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
3
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
4
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
5
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
6
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
7
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
8
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
9
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
10
Mimbs's picture
Mimbs
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”